Is Your Win Theme Winning?
Win themes are strategic differentiators for the opportunity you are chasing. An undeveloped win theme holds no strategy – it’s just words on a page.
Example: We maintain a budget and schedule
Sound familiar? It is one of the most often used win themes in proposals. It’s not a bad starting point, but it could be much more strategic with a rewrite. Take the time to add up these three key components to develop a (winning) win theme!
How to craft a win theme?
(Truly) Understanding Client Pain Points
Everyone says they understand client pain points, but it can be easy to slip back to talking about how awesome WE are when writing a proposal. When building your proposal response, empathize with the client. At this point in the sales process, you should understand your client’s needs very well, which means you can articulate those pain points precisely and concisely. Put yourself in the client’s shoes – what is truly important to your client? What are their biggest struggles? What are potential risks they haven’t considered?
Solve the problems with proof
When developing a winning proposal win theme, always tailor your solution. You see your clients’ gaps; you understand what they need, and you can deliver them a customized solution. Walk the walk and talk the talk. I will demonstrate how we’ve done this before and how it improved operations for that client. You want strong data to back your proof. Did your solution raise engagement rates by more than 30%? Did your approach allow your client to have an increased speed to market, allowing an additional $10 million in revenue to be generated?
“So what & why you?”
No winning proposal win theme is bulletproof. Question it. This step is often forgotten. After I write a win theme – I ask, “So what?”. So what if we’re a multi-disciplined team? Isn’t our competition as well? So what if we manage the budget and schedule? Can’t every company claim that? If you follow the client pain point + solution + experience approach to crafting your win themes, your win theme will be an impactful and memorable qualifier for your company.
Remember that example win theme from earlier?
Example: We maintain a budget and schedule
Upgrade: We will maintain the budget by deploying schedule crashing techniques early in the project. We utilized this method on four contracts with the Department of Transportation and it provided more than $12 million in combined revenue.
One Last Tip
Win themes don’t just live on your cover letter. Those themes need to be woven throughout your proposal content! The evaluator needs to know in each proposal section why they should award the contract to you, your team, and your company.
Need help crafting a win theme for your next proposal?
Get in touch with B2G Victory to support your next big win!
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